This disclosure relates generally to devices and methods for determining the liquid level in a tank. More particularly, this disclosure relates to electronic devices for automatically determining the liquid level in a tank.
For applications to which the present disclosure relates, waste oil from restaurants and food preparation facilities has now become a significant source of fuel. The waste oil is typically stored in tanks at the restaurant or facility. When a sufficient quantity of waste oil has been accrued, the waste oil is picked up and transferred to a tank on a truck. The waste oil is taken to a refining facility wherein the waste oil is filtered and/or otherwise treated to produce fuel suitable for usage.
One of the recurring issues is to schedule the trucks and pickup events so that a proper amount of waste oil is on hand for pickup. Economic considerations dictate that there be sufficient quantities of waste oil available for pickup subject to the limiting parameters that the pickup should not be scheduled beyond the point when the waste oil tank is full of waste oil.